The Human Resources Department of the Future

Guessing what’s ahead seems to be the current reality for Human Resource departments. As HR Professionals diligently work to understand the complexities of healthcare reform while continuing their normal work functions, interesting predictions for the future of HR have gained everybody’s attention.

HR departments may become smaller as advancing technology and increased employee participation in HR processes, fueled by healthcare reform, becomes the norm. More self-service, such as employees inputting their own data into self-service systems, paired with many of the “transaction-heavy” HR jobs being outsourced will result in leaner HR departments.

Experts at Buck Consultants, a global HR consulting firm, claim, “With employees taking on increasing responsibility for their benefits, we’ll see not only the administration of benefit programs but the entire benefits department become outsourced. Service firms will offer ‘benefit-in-a-box’ models that will offer cost effective, bundled health and welfare, wellness and retirement plans to organizations.”

In 2002 SHRM predicted in The Future of the HR Profession that HR Professionals would need to position themselves as a strategic partner within the business. For the leaner HR department that remains internally, increased partnership with executives to drive growth will be critical.

Dr. Janice Presser, CEO of The Gabriel Institute, says, “This includes the ability to make accurate projections based on understanding the goals of the business and using metrics that describe more than lagging indicators, such as how long it takes to fill a job or the per-employee training spend.”

An increased understanding of business operations and strategy can propel HR Professionals into invaluable members of the entire business process.

So what does all of this mean for current HR Professionals? Knowing that change seems to be the only constant, embracing outsourcing and continuing to contribute to the growth of your organization in new and improved ways is a smart-way to ensure your continued success.

BASIC allows you to maintain compliance and streamline your HR, FMLA, and Payroll needs in a way that’s efficient, secure, and most importantly simple. With twenty four years of experience and clients of all sizes nationwide, we understand there’s nothing basic about your business.

Why trust BASIC with your outsourcing needs?

Focus on core business processes while controlling costs and reducing risk